As the National Retail Federation releases its appraisal of holiday spending, many Sacramento region retailers are optimistic in assessing a season marred by a shorter shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The NRF cites a 3.8 percent increase in November and December retail sales. The number isn’t far from the retail trade association’s initial forecast of 3.9 percent growth. In 2012, holiday sales increased 3.5 percent, according to the NRF.

This year’s number isn’t entirely good news. The extreme sales that led to retail growth might be detrimental to profits in the long run.

“Undoubtedly, some of the increase came at the expense of the margin,” NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz said in a news release. “Retailers are still stressed and a long-term promotional environment may actually hurt the bottom line. As consumer confidence grows, there will be less need for retailers to heavily promote and discount their offerings.”

Jamie McDaniels, senior marketing manager for Arden Fair, expects to see a 3.2 percent increase compared to 2012, based on anecdotal discussions with retailers at the mall.

“Several retailers reported higher conversion rates which depict that shoppers were spending more during the shorter holiday period,” McDaniels said.

Other retailers were optimistic without offering specific growth projections.

“Palladio’s retailers had a very good holiday shopping season, with a slow start but an extremely strong finish,” said Gloria Wright, general manager of Folsom’s Palladio at Broadstone. “Traffic counts were way up year over year and the mall enjoyed double digit sales increases year over year as well.”

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